Mississippi tweaking pension rule for elected officials

Emily Wagster Pettus and Jeff Amy, Associated Press

Updated
3:12 pm CST, Tuesday, February 12, 2019

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Retired Mississippi government employees who win legislative seats this year could be paid for legislative work while continuing to collect pension benefits. That is according to a new rule the state pension system is on track to adopt.

The board of the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System voted Tuesday to direct the system's staff to draft a new rule with a goal of having it in place by January, when the new four-year legislative term begins.

The Mississippi retirement system had a longstanding rule that said state elected officials could not receive salaries and pension benefits simultaneously. Attorney General Jim Hood issued a legal opinion in November contradicting that rule.

The pension board voted Tuesday to set a new rule that will comply with Hood's legal opinion and will follow federal tax regulations to preserve the pension fund's tax-exempt status.

"It was a victory for retirees who don't want to be put out by the side of the road. They want to make a contribution to the good of the state and they feel like they can do it through the legislative process," said former Mississippi Insurance Commissioner George Dale, who serves on the pension board. He was among those voting to set the new rule.

Dale began his career as an educator and said he feels "extremely strongly ... that teachers should be able to run for the Mississippi Legislature under any conditions."

Mississippi Medicaid Director Drew Snyder, appointed to the pension board by Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, voted against the rule change.

Democrats have been recruiting retired teachers and state employees to become candidates since the November ruling, although it's hard to tell if they've been successful because the state party refuses to release the qualifying list before March 1. Republicans are releasing names of their qualified candidates.

Hood, a Democrat who is running for governor, has said Republicans were pressing the pension board to ignore his opinion or delay complying until after March 1, the deadline for candidates to qualify for this year's state elections.

"The Legislature is trying to put pressure on the PERS board, and they're trying to stop competition," Hood said Monday. "They don't want people running against them that understand mental health. They don't want people that understand the education system. They don't want people that have worked in highways and all the other areas that bring knowledge to our Legislature."

The financial status of the $27.7 billion pension fund is important to Mississippi's overall financial health.

The retirement system's executive director, Ray Higgins, said the pension fund's staffers have been trying to work through issues raised by Hood's ruling, requesting a clarification that Hood's office issued Jan. 24.

Hood's second opinion provided more guidance. For example, it said that members now in the Legislature could not start taking a pension without a 90-day break in service, unless they had recorded such a break in service between leaving a state job and getting elected to the Legislature, or unless there was some other exception.

Hood said lawmakers could collect their retirement benefits, plus half of a lawmaker's salary, under a state rule that allows retirees to work up to half-time for half pay. Those people would also be able to receive all lawmaker expense pay classified as "earned compensation," but not salary, without regard to the half-pay rule.